Police investigating Labour

Finally….the Labour Party is currently under investigation by the Police for a breach of the Electoral Finance Act.

Unfortunately this means that the statutory bodies have not done their work and was referred as an issue to the Police for investigation and hopefully prosecution by a member of the public.

[quote]The pamphlet “We’re Making a Difference for Everyone” was found by the Electoral Commission to breach the act because it was a not properly authorised election advertisement, but did not refer it to the police because it was the first breach.

However, police have carried out what is the first investigation under the Act, which took effect on January 1.

Inspector Bill Peoples of police headquarters in Wellington confirmed that the police had received a complaint about the pamphlet from a member of the public, but would not name the person.[/quote]

This is a huge embarrassment for Labour, being the first to branch and now the first to be investigated by the Police under their own law.

The Police have been investigating for two months and will conclude that next week. The information only came to light after the Police provided an affadavit to National for their case against the Electoral Commission. National says the law doesn’t provide for “first offences” in fact it says the Electoral Commission “must” refer items to the Police for investigation if found to breach.